


Hurt

by unlockthelore



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Attempt at Humor, Banter, Childhood Friends, During Canon, F/M, Gen, Introspection, Missing Scene, Promises, Trust, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23657182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unlockthelore/pseuds/unlockthelore
Summary: When they were kids, Cloud always tried to keep a stiff lip and Tifa always came to his rescue. Now, everything seems the same and different.
Relationships: Tifa Lockhart & Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockhart/Cloud Strife
Comments: 4
Kudos: 82





	Hurt

**Hurt**

Beneath leaf-filled gutters dripping water into barrels set against a damp brick wall, a white cat blinked iridescent blue eyes at a glowing orb set precariously on a pile of debris. Its tail flicked and curled as it crept around shallow puddles shimmering flourescent green across a rippled surface. Gravel presses into its paws as it crept up the pieces of broken wood, sights trained on the orb’s surface, its light particles drawing the attention of cat’s dilated pupils. 

Seconds from claiming its prize, the cat lunged only to be batted away by a hand. Tumbling backward down the pile of scrapped wood into a heap in the dirt, a small cloud of dust arising. It took a moment to shake off the initial shock. Slitted pupils and narrowed eyes focused on a blond haired child kneeling on the other side of the pile, snatching the glowing orb from the cat’s view. Hissing with a puffed out tail, the cat stalked forward attempting to lay eyes on the orb but the child blocked its view every time.

“Shoo, shoo…” He urged, waving his free hand mere inches from the cat’s nose. A few mere inches which would be his _downfall_. Rebuffed and vindictive, the cat lunged with a loud grating hiss, claws flashing and the boy recoiled with a startled cry. Bringing his hand close to him, fresh angry reddened streaks along the back of his hand gives the cat a sense of triumph as it scampered away, racing out of the alleyway before the boy could retaliate. 

The blond grumbles softly, nursing his hand close to his chest, eyebrows knitting together in pain with a flicker of annoyance at the cat’s retreating form. “Ouch…”

Dull throbbing pain etched around the thin scratches. Blood beading around the wound staining his pale skin a light scarlet with a few dunks of his hand in a small basin beside the larger water barrels. Cradling the orb in his free hand, he carefully shifted it to eye-level and turned it over in his palm admiring the glow. 

There was no question of why the cat would want it but if he’d lost it, that would be worse than a couple of scratches. His body ached and muscles protested his shuffling to the wood pile, dropping down against the dilapidated fence separating from the main road. Ambient voices and footsteps of the other towns goers both filling him with dread and concern. The longer it took him to figure out how to _use_ this, the easier it would be for someone to stumble across him. Word traveled fast in Nibelheim, and would no doubt reach the ears of one Claudia Strife. 

When glaring a hole into the orb didn’t work, Cloud tried any manner of “magic words” including “please” although he took a quick glance toward either side of the backalley to ensure no one was listening. The other kids would never let him live it down if they heard him pleading to a ball of energy — or was it magic? He couldn’t quite remember what his mother had told him before and recalling her words was difficult at a distant shout of his name. 

Scuffling in the dirt, a sharp pain to his back and sides nearly tore free a pained groan. His hand clamping over his mouth to stifle it as the sound of his name grew nearer. Bouncing off the brick walls, interrupting the ambience and nearly drowned out by his hammering heartbeat. He knew that lilting voice anywhere — having heard it call out to him most of his life — but he didn’t want to face her.

Not yet, and definitely not like this. 

“Cloud, are you back here?”

Tucking the orb close to his stomach, he clasped his injured hand over his mouth tightly, trying to control his breathing and make himself as small as possible. In the dim, it would be harder to pick out where he was exactly. And for once he was grateful that he was so small and unassuming. If he just stayed quiet then perhaps — 

“Y’know, even if you try to keep quiet and hold your breath, the cat _and_ the materia you took from my dad gives you away.”

Wrenching his eyes open, Cloud felt dread pool in his stomach. He knew when he was caught. Carefully lifting his head, his gaze traveled from the dirt scuffed at the tip of his boots to unblemished legs. Powder blue strapless sandals, that were always getting caught on cobblestone or causing a ruckus during a free run, on a pair of shifting feet matching the cream-colored dress and the drape of dark hair barely masking concerned and annoyed ruby eyes. While he was dirtied from head to toe, Tifa was pristine and — to his relief — unharmed. 

Though, she was no less upset. Thick dark brows furrowed and rose pink lips pinched together, her balled fists jammed into her hips as she shook her head at him. “ _Really_ , Cloud. How were you gonna hide a glowing green ball in a dark alley?” Her gaze dropped somewhere near the hand that fell from his mouth, resting against his chest with nowhere else to go. Pain flickered in her eyes, quickly blinked away as determination interlaced with concern in her pinched expression. “ _And_ patch yourself up at the same time…?”

Cloud swallowed thickly. He didn’t _want_ to explain to Tifa what happened but he _was_ caught red-handed and she wouldn’t let him off easily. Fiddling with the orb, it felt cool against his heated skin. Shame burning deep in his chest as Tifa looked him over with a dawning look of realization. Her head dropped with a heavy sigh. 

“You don’t know how to use it, _do you_?”

Wincing and averting his gaze, Cloud grumbled bitterly. “I was… gonna figure it out.”

Tifa’s disappointment is palpable but so is her concern. Cloud, chafing beneath both, had little energy to fight back against her snatching the materia from his hands. 

“Before or after you got my hat back from the monsters?”

He half-expects her to turn around and go marching back home or chastise him for being reckless. When neither comes, he glances up at her as she shuffles in the dirt. Gravel and muck staining the hem of her dress when she crouches at his side, her eyes much closer and hold tight on his arm. It would’ve been painful if not for the cooling rush of energy fluttering from the materia into his skin, numbness ebbing at pain’s biting sting, racing through his body. If Cloud didn’t know any better and Tifa’s hold on him wasn’t so tight, he would’ve thought he was floating. 

“Everyone else ran for the hills, I mean…” Tifa’s voice is soft and distant, a hint of bitterness souring the air between them as they watch the scratches begin to close. “So did I…” Quickly, she added. “ _Just_ to get my gloves so I could whack them myself.” Once the scratches healed, she eased his hand to his lap and loosened her grip enough that his wrist didn’t ache. Still, she refused to let go and Cloud knew better than to pull his arm away. 

“And then I see my hat on a post and you were nowhere in sight.”

The slightest tremble to her hand made Cloud ease his own back and clasp it with hers. Tifa’s pinched expression breaking, a faint glimmer to her eyes as relief floods where anxiousness had been. She squeezed his hand and a hushed silence lulled between them, Nibelheim’s ambience filling the quiet as they were lost to their thoughts. 

Quietly and with no small amount of hope, Cloud asked. “Did you get it back?”

That hat was one of Tifa’s favorites. Although she had so many, that didn’t matter. It was hers and he wasn’t going to allow some monster to trample over it. Tifa startled at the question then sighed raggedly, waving the materia inches from Cloud’s nose, his eyes almost going crossed as he tried to keep his gaze on it . 

“That’s not the point, _silly_.” Tifa huffed, pulling the materia back, giving Cloud precious time to refocus his sight. His vision dotting a bit as he tried to level his gaze with hers. Almost wishing that he hadn’t when he sees the guilt and apprehension in her eyes. “You could’ve gotten _really_ hurt, you know? Then what would I do?”

A loaded phrase and one Cloud isn’t quick to answer. Tifa’s care for him always leaves his stomach in knots and he hates seeing her face like that. Tired, concerned, anxious, guilt-ridden, those were emotions she didn’t deserve. With how helpful and strong Tifa was, she deserved to smile everyday. And he hated that he was the one who made her look like that. 

_Say something. Anything that’ll make her not worry so much._

Opening his mouth and closing it as he tried find the words, Cloud grumbled. “Take your hat, go home, and ask your dad how to use a healing materia… I guess?”

Weighted silence lingers between them before Tifa groans, shoving his shoulder lightly with materia in hand. “Oh, so now you’re a funny guy?” She asks dryly, but her smile is there and that’s all that matters to him. Slowly rising from the dirt, smatters of gravel cling to her skin and Cloud is hard-pressed not to remind her of them. Staring up at her steals his breath away, the light reflecting off the gutters haloing her in a gentle golden hue. 

“One of these days, Cloud Strife, you’re going to get yourself into something you can’t get out of trying to play hero.”

Cloud closed his mouth, his lips dried from hanging open for so long. With Tifa’s help in pulling him to his feet, he held onto her hand a bit tighter as she tried to pull away. Her eyes squinting in confusion.

“… Then you’ll rescue me.”

“Huh?”

Cloud felt his face warming, his hold on her hand loosening for a second to allow her to pull away. When she didn’t, he tried to summon all the courage he could muster to keep speaking. Looking everywhere else but at her, trying to focus on the dripping water and the chattering beyond their little pocket of existence. Ignoring Tifa’s efforts to try and catch his eye, his head turning this way and that to avoid her gaze. “I promised I’d come rescue you once I’m a SOLDIER…” He cleared his throat when she ducked her head in his line of sight, meeting his eyes curiously. A startled noise and his head whipped to the side, too quick for him to play it off. “So, you have to rescue me too… if I mess up with _playing_ hero.”

Tifa giggled after a short pause, squeezing his hand. “You don’t have to tell me that,” she said to him, pulling him to her side, not minding the slight stumble as he tried to regain his footing. Her eyes twinkling and the soft golden hue seared into his memory. 

“It’s a promise, Cloud.”

  


**・・・・・・ LOADING**

  


Cloud opens his eyes to the darkness of his room in Stargazer Heights, the sounds of Nibelheim melting away along with Tifa’s voice and the warmth of her hand. Gazing down at his gloved hands, he carefully pulled one of the leather garments from his hand and set it in his lap. Brushing his fingers along the unblemished skin — feeling the ghost of the scratches and the ache in his bones from Tifa’s tight grip on his wrist. It was silly. He’d grown a lot since then but the sensations were still as real as they were that day. 

An ache settled in his chest when he heard a door creaking open from down the hall along with the tell-tale footsteps down the rickety staircase. Pushing himself up to his feet, Cloud grabbed his fallen glove and tucked it over his hand. Hesitantly glancing between the Buster Sword propped up against the wall and the doorway where the footsteps were growing fainter to his ears. Quickly holstering the weapon, Cloud pulled open the door and darted to the railing, grasping it with both hands as he leant over.

“Tifa?”

Gone was the childish roundness to her face and the wide-eyed optimism and unbridled determination. He never noticed until Tifa was looking away from him, but shadows haunted behind that glimmer of hope. And the spark was steadily going out. Without missing a beat, she turned her head up to him and stopped at one of the lower steps, her hand on the railing and smile showing a sliver of teeth. Her face lighting up and temporarily blinding him from the shadows and all else around him.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“I… um…” Words gathered and died on his lips as he tried to piece together why it is that he wanted to see her _now_. A dull pricking pain, barely worth mentioning, drew his attention to the cloth bracers missing from his arm. Several thin scratches wrapping around his forearm, angry raised skin presenting both a hollow memory and an opportunity. 

“Could you… patch me up?” Cloud asked, raising his arm hesitantly, the cool air stinging the fresh cuts. He thought that they would heal in his sleep but perhaps he hadn’t used his materia properly. Healing wasn’t _exactly_ his thing after all. 

Tifa leant up on her tip toes, likely attempting to see what he meant. A startled gasp escaping her as she raced up the stairs in record time. 

“Cloud, wh—“ 

“You promised,” Cloud interjected, noting the exasperation and confusion in her eyes as she rifled about in the small pouch at her hip for a healing materia, glowing a familiar green between them. When her eyes met his, there was a brief flicker of recognition and the exasperation melted into a fond smile that stammered his heart’s beating. 

“… Guess I did. Now, hold still, okay?”

Laying his hand in her own, he almost wished that he left his glove off so he could feel the warmth of her hand. But for now, _this_ would be more than enough.

**Author's Note:**

> Couldn't resist writing something FF7-related with how much I've been playing it. Check me out on twitter, tumblr, instagram, and tapas @unlockthelore. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


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